New friends, new catastrophes

[seadevil]

Who: The crew of the Katabami
Where: At sea, Manila Island
When: After departing Isla Empieza after the battle and covering events until the end of the month
What: Catch-all log
Warnings: Foul language, excessive dumb
Style: Any
Status: Closed to crew

Itinerary
- Meet and greet for new crew
- MANLY STORIES
- Visiting Manila so our more studious crew can get their research on and your esteemed captain can piss the moths off
- THIS COLD CURSE THING

EDIT: The turkey is now officially named Lord Buffalo Toritaro Stuffington, "Twitchy" for short. Feel free to make use of this.

Comments

[harbouredheart]

[Xun Yu certainly knows the benefits and drawbacks of serving ambitious men. It's a trait that she's always admired in Cao Cao, even through the whole awful mess revolving around the Imperial Seal. But boundless freedom, chasing adventure, a desire to possess for the sake of possessing -- those she struggles to understand. To her own detriment, she fears.]

Was there nothing that bound you to land? Did you have anything to lose?

[seadevil]

Nothing to bind me to the land, but much to lose, I'm afraid. Were I a bit wiser of a man, I might have known that before much of it was lost to me.

[It's difficult to speak of it still. The loss of his men, his own foolishness that allowed him to be turned against his most trusted friend, the emptiness behind the eyes of the man who had orchestrated it all...all of it is still painful to recall.]

But that's neither here nor there. Nothing can be done for it until I return.

[harbouredheart]

[Xun Yu isn't sure how to respond to personal regret so clearly off-limits; without details it's impossible to navigate, and she's too polite to press.

When she speaks it is with care.]

No one is infallible, Captain.

[seadevil]

You're right of course, but no man wishes to hear that, let alone have it proven to him.

[He shakes his head.]

Enough of this talk. The temperature is low enough already, no need to lower our spirits as well.

[harbouredheart]

Yes, Captain.

[He is right, of course. After a moment she sighs.]

If Himiko were here, perhaps her power would have been enough to break this curse. [...] Now that I think on it, you must be countrymen.

[seadevil]

Himiko...? I'm not sure I've heard the name before.

[Either not that important a historical figure or one he'd learned about and since forgotten. Either was quite possible.]

Himiko...hm. It sounds like she should be, at least...

[harbouredheart]

Are Ieyasu and Kodai also from your country?

[The syllables of their names fit to her ears.]

We name it Wō in our records.

[seadevil]

Ieyasu is for certain. I've known the lad since he was half that size. Still not quite sure when the other half happened... [That will befuddle him for the rest of his days.] As for Kodai, I'm not quite as certain. The name fits, but when we met he was speaking of Iscawhatsit and Gamsomething, so I'm a bit in the dark as to his actual background.

[He hasn't really had the time to ask. Kodai has been making himself quite busy since joining the crew and he's not about to tell him to stop to chat.]

[harbouredheart]

[It doesn't particularly matter, of course -- there's no real relevance it will bring to the present, other than perhaps small pieces of shared culture for her to observe. Not that she's done yet.]

You've known Ieyasu since childhood? Or... since his childhood?

[Well, she's too polite to ask his age, but not above parsing. It may well be that Ieyasu can tell her more of Motochika too, depending.]

[seadevil]

Since his, or so I thought. Either I've missed a few years somehow, or he grew damn fast. When I said "half that size," I was speaking literally.

[Really, he's not that old. He's fairly certain he hasn't passed into his third decade yet, but Ieyasu makes him doubt that.]

[harbouredheart]

Literally? [Xun Yu echoes in surprise. It's difficult to imagine -- the equivalent in her mind would be waking up one day to find that Xiahou Ba had suddenly become the spitting image of his late father.] First encountering the change in him must have been quite a shock.

[If thought of it brings a hint of laughter into her expression, well, no one will see.]

[seadevil]

[Motochika, however, laughs out loud.]

It was, without a doubt! I wouldn't have recognized him at all if he hadn't been so excited to see me! His manner has changed very little, but his size...

[He shakes his head. It still baffles him, but it fills him with a strange sort of pride nonetheless to see that Ieyasu has grown up to be such an admirable man.]

Hopefully he's finished and we won't wake one morning and find him bigger than the boat.

[harbouredheart]

[Xun Yu lets her laughter loose at that. It's the silliest thing she's heard in a while.]

I think the risk of that is very small, Captain.

[After being so cold and miserable, it's undeniably good to be thoroughly warm and laughing. It has been a long time since she was anything other than completely serious.]

The Navy would no longer be a concern, but feeding him would be terribly costly...

[seadevil]

[Ah, he got her to laugh! He wasn't quite sure if that was possible. She gets a big smile in return for that.]

Hell, if he's that big, he can just catch his own dinner from the ocean. We'll just have to convince him he doesn't have to share it with the rest of us.

[harbouredheart]

Is that a tendency of his? [She's still collecting each tidbit shared, even as she plays along, a trace of her laughter lingering in her voice.] It would be a test of ingenuity to cover all of the impracticalities.

[seadevil]

What, sharing? He has a big heart, that's for certain. You'll also hear him go on a bit about bonds before long. Bring it up with him and I'm sure he'll wax philosophical about it for you.

[He's certainly heard it enough himself. Sooner or later, they'll all start hearing about their bonds as a crew and everyone's bonds as people taken from their homes and so on. The boy certainly has a vision.]

[harbouredheart]

Having a crew member who feels genuine enthusiasm for people is promising for future diplomacy.

[Xun Yu reflects thoughtfully, before falling quiet. As tempting as it is to remain, she's starting to feel like she's taken up enough of Motochika's time.]

Captain, I... I am fairly certain that it's impossible to become any warmer. If you felt obligated...

[She trails off, not wanting to sound too presumptive.]

[seadevil]

[Motochika lets her go like he's just been burned. To be quite honest, he'd gotten so wrapped up in talking that he'd forgotten the situation he'd managed to get himself into.]

Ah, well, no, it's quite alright, don't worry yourself about it.

[Now he's just kind of holding his arms awkwardly out to the sides and looking anywhere but at Xun Yu.]

[harbouredheart]

[Xun Yu steps back, a little startled by his reaction; her own embarrassment rises quickly in response. While it was a purely practical arrangement it's nonetheless difficult not to take offence. At least he didn't just shove her away, she supposes.

She bows her head and folds her hands in front of her body, feeling impressively foolish.]

Thank you, Captain. I appreciate the kindness you have shown me.

[She's grateful, truly.]

[seadevil]

[No offense is meant, of course, he's just...being himself. And probably blushing now that she's said something about it.]

It was no trouble at all, that is...you're welcome. Glad to be of help.

[harbouredheart]

[Xun Yu lifts her head after a moment, her self-reproach fading.

Is he blushing...? Following all of his bravado, it's a little strange to see. She cannot help but wonder, though she does hesitate before she asks.]

Were you a bashful child?

[Technically, he hasn't told her he's had enough of her questioning.]

[seadevil]

[WHO'S SHE BEEN TALKING TO? She hasn't been here long enough to talk to anyone on the Koumyou.

Oh. Maybe it's just a guess based on how he's acting.

Then at least she doesn't know about...that name. He can probably just be honest if no one's going to bring it up.]

Grew out of it soon enough, though.

[harbouredheart]

[She presses her lips together, half-supressing a smile. She's worked alongside enough men to understand something of their pride.]

I would not dare to suggest otherwise, Captain.

[seadevil]

[He crosses his arms and frowns.]

Right. Good.

[As it should be. No need to jump to any silly conclusions or anything.]

So if you'll excuse me...

[He'll go...somewhere else.]

[harbouredheart]

[Xun Yu salutes, before leaving. Beyond Motochika's dismissal, she has tasks she'd like to finish before all of the warmth is stolen from her body again.]